The replica of the historical sailing ship Pascual Flores has arrived in Torrevieja following the conclusion of its 2026 European tour. The vessel will remain docked in the city until March next year, offering public tours from Thursday to Sunday. General admission is priced at 5€, with a reduced rate of 3€ available for local residents.
The six-month stay represents the longest period the Pascual Flores has been based in Torrevieja since the Andalusian Nao Victoria Foundation, an organisation that specialises in promoting historic vessels, took over its management. The agreement has kept the project operational and allowed the vessel to showcase maritime traditions linked to coastwise trade during its European port visits, particularly traditions from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Although the Foundation promotes the ship as an original vessel, it is a recreation built at the old Arenal beach in the bay of Torrevieja in the early twentieth century, and none of the frames of the current ship belong to the original craft.
Throughout 2026, the vessel docked in more than 21 ports across Italy, France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, welcoming over 52,000 visitors. The ship logged thousands of nautical miles and participated in the Tall Ships Races, an international regatta for large sailing vessels.
The Pascual Flores also featured in several European maritime festivals, including the inaugural Escala a La Spezia in Italy, the ninth edition of Escala a Castelló, the Bremerhaven festival, and the Hanse Sail in Rostock, Germany.
The original sailboat was constructed in Torrevieja in 1917 and was used for the salt trade across the Mediterranean and the African continent.
The construction of the replica cost the municipal budget more than four million euros, excluding additional costs claimed by the contractor JOST and expenses from direct service contracts awarded over the years. Previously, in 1999, the City Council paid 200,000€ for the original vessel, which was in poor condition. A plan to reconstruct it was abandoned in 2006 due to viability issues.
The municipality subsequently contributed another 900,000€ for repairs to make the ship seaworthy. From 2008—when construction of the replica finished at a shipyard in Águilas—until 2020, the vessel remained moored as a museum ship in Torrevieja without sailing, leading to accelerated deterioration.
Additionally, a maintenance agreement signed with the Nao Victoria Foundation in 2021 currently costs 225,000€ annually. Despite this investment of public funds, registered residents must pay an entry fee to view municipal property that is officially listed on the municipal inventory alongside public roadways.
Visits are available from Thursday to Sunday between 10:00 and 14:00, and from 16:00 to 20:00. Tickets can be purchased directly at the ship or via the Nao Victoria Foundation website, with special group visits offered for schools and associations. The ship is located next to the Paseo del Mar leisure centre.